sermon Notes on Mark 1:29-39

Life of Peter: Jesus in Peter's house. In this passage we see Jesus heal Peter's mother-in-law.(This was a good text for mother's day...) Jesus is going throughout the region and preaching: The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe! In this section Jesus Declares this message andDemonstrates this message. The healing and the deliverence from demonic oppression demonstrate the nature and validity of the message. Jesus' popularity and fame grow because the crowds experience his teaching and healing and tell others. This is instrumental to Peter's own discipleship. Last week in Luke we heard the call of Peter to be a disciple and Peter's initial response was, "Depart from me, I am a sinner, Lord!" Jesus does not depart from him but brings him in closer. Peter observes and experiences the healing in his house and in his boat(workplace). The response to a miracle in your house is to tell others about it. We also observed that in the Mark passage as well as the Luke passage Jesus is proclaiming and inviting people into his kingdom. There are only two options. Kingdom of darkness represented by the sickness and demonic and the kingdom of Christ. There aren't any other options given in the passages. Consider this: If your life has been transformed and healed by Jesus, will you tell others. I'm not talking about what most evangelicles think of as "witnessing" which most practically act upon in a way that says- you must believe what I believe. But, are you a whole person who has been made whole by the truth about Jesus- his covenantal atoning work. Do you or will you tell others of what has gone on in your life? If you don't consider yourself a follower of Jesus, while you consider Jesus' teaching? Not what other people have told you that Jesus says. Not what you may think about organized religion or the rules that you think Christians follow. But the teaching of Jesus- The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe.